University of Minnesota student's case makes it to the Supreme Court

The Minnesota Supreme Court was in session on Wednesday, presiding over a case questioning a student's free speech on Facebook.

Amanda Tatro, now a graduate from the University of Minnesota, wrote a statement on Facebook in 2009 saying that she wanted to "stab a certain someone in the throat with a trocar."

A trocar is a sharp instrument used to drain body cavities before embalming.

In December of 2009, when the case first began, Tatro was a mortuary science student and had just broken up with her boyfriend. She wrote on Facebook, "Who knew embalming lab was so cathartic? I still want to stab a certain someone in the throat though."

Tatro also posted comments such as naming her cadaver "Bernie," and hiding the trocar "under my sleeve" during lab, the Pioneer Press reported.

Following her comments, Tatro's course grade was changed to failing and the University forced her to take a psychological evaluation, according to the Star Tribune.

No specific names of professors or students were used in her posts, but the school's faculty was still disturbed by her statements, the ruling said.

Tatro appealed the University's discipline at the Court of Appeals and lost, then asked the Supreme Court to review the decision, the Pioneer Press reported.